This application relates generally to the field of gloves for a wearer's hands, and more particularly, to systems and methods for attaching adjacent layers of a multi-layer glove to one another. For purposes of this disclosure, U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,705 is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The specialized gloves worn by firemen may exhibit a number of characteristics to ensure that they adequately perform in the hazardous environments encountered during use. Such gloves may include a plurality of layers joined together where each layer is constructed to provide a particular performance characteristic group of characteristics, such as breathability, durability, heat resistance, abrasion resistance, and the like. For example, an outermost shell or layer of the glove may be fabricated from a tough, abrasion-resistant and likely heat-resistant material that shields the hand from heat and permits any gripping or grasping that might be required by the wearer. Inside this outer layer, a moisture barrier may be provided to prevent the firefighter's hands and any intervening layers within the glove from being soaked with water or from being contaminated or damaged by potentially dangerous liquids, such as blood, solvents, or other chemical liquids. Alternatively or in addition to the moisture barrier, one or more additional layer may be provided inside the outer layer (and/or inside the moisture barrier, if provided). This layer may be formed from a soft yet heat-resistant material which may provide a degree of padding for the wearer's hand. Multiple-layer gloves are worn by a variety of users in other industries or for purposes other than firefighting where multiple layers may provide additional protection or utility for the wearer or the wearer's hands.
In the past, most of the types of glue used to affix various portions of such multi-layer gloves together may provide inadequate structural integrity after repeated soakings and may therefore permit the layers to separate from one another. In addition, gloves assembled using adhesive over large portions of their surface areas tended to be inherently less compliant than other glove structures. Also, while the tips of the moisture barrier layer and the insulating inner layer may be sewn together, the moisture barrier may be inadvertently punctured in the process thereby destroying the integrity of the moisture barrier.
Moreover, attaching multiple layers of a glove together may create undesirable internal clearance between adjacent layers, and in particular, between adjacent layer surfaces near the fingertips, resulting in increased glove bulk and loss of finger and fingertip dexterity. Such internal clearance arises from conventional attachment mechanisms involving a form of tape that is affixed to both the top and bottom sides (i.e., knuckle side and fingerprint/finger pad side, respectively) near the fingertip of one glove layer, which tape is brought together to form an extension that extends from the fingertip to the adjacent glove layer and attached thereto. Because the extension originates and extends from the fingertip, the length of the extension, therefore, is proportional to the amount of internal clearance formed between the fingertips of the adjacent glove layers.